Last Day in Utah

 

So we started our drive home from Salt Lake on Wednesday the 13th, stayed the night with our friends Heidi and Andrew in St. George and then continued on to Ridgecrest the next day with a few stops in Las Vegas.  

Back in Utah? Say What??

I was soo not expecting to go to Utah in May and it was making me a little sad to know I probably wouldn't be back until August. But! I got a new job working with Homie Homie and wanted to get a bunch of photos from the Parade of Homes in UV to use in my content. I was going to hire someone to go take all the photos I needed but Tony thought it might be better if I just went up and did it myself, so  up I went! And not solo..Tony came too! But for less than 24 hours. Darn it!

Seven Magic Mountains Stop!

I debated stopping here on my way back from Utah because I had food in the cooler and a cold bag but the ice was melting, of course, after 10 hours it would! But! I knew I would have regrets if I didn't..especially because the sun was kinda right where I wanted it so I took the exit and there I was!

Let's Go to Utah!

Yep..you read that right. After about a week and a half of being back in CA, it was time to go back to Utah. I got to make a fun stop on the way though to stay the night and hang out with my friend Kylee in Logandale and we took her Razr out the next morning for some fun desert views. Check it out!

Saying Cya Later Utah!

Tuesday! Time to head home and say goodbye to my family, friends and Utah.

In a short week and a half or so I will be back again for a visit and to do some more things so the goodbye is more like a cya later...

Utah Roadtrip

I left my house on Wednesday, April 11 to drive to Utah for about 12 days. I was going to be attending a blog conference called Snap, getting to see my parents and working at the Let's Create Expo. Inbetween all that I was going to eat at all my favorite places + new ones, see friends, thrift store shop with my sister and do some other fun things. Let's go!

CES 2018 - Day 2

!

Day 2 of CES and I was ready to walk and walk. We decided to explore the Sands Convention Center upstairs first and then catch a shuttle to the main convention center. 

Good Morning from CES 2018!

Hey friends! I know its been a bit since I have posted here but I've been actively blogging on my craft and travel blogs so if you have not been to either of those to see all the fun things I've been doing...you gotta go see.

Seven Magic Mountains Pit Stop

Nobody wants to stop here with me anymore it seems. Not during Questival in Las Vegas. Tony says, we've already stopped here. When I was traveling with the dogs it was too much of a hassle to take them in and out + it would have been too hot for them. They are small dogs. So just me...no one was there to stop me and I took advantage. 

NYE in Las Vegas

The past 5 years we've lived in Utah, we've never had good plans for New Years Eve. Nothing that is a tradition per say. Once or twice we went out to see a movie and honestly I'd have to look back at my blog to see what else we ended up doing the other years. I think once or maybe twice we went to Idaho but missed the potato dropping in Boise by 10 or 15 minutes. A pro to being in Boise for New Years is that my sister in law & her husband throw a really fun dinner party.  In Utah, I always wished we'd get invited to a party but that never happened and our place wasn't the best for having a lot of people over. So since we still don't have any good traditions for New Year's we decided to give last Las Vegas a try. 

The night was dark and cold. In fact, as we got in to Nevada it was raining some. Was not expecting that!



We finally found parking in a shopping strip and walked and walked to get to the strip. It was probably just a mile or so. If we do this next year, I have some ideas how we will do things differently. 



It was time for dinner (at 8pm!) and I have been wanting to eat at Yard House for a long time and it finally happened! Expensive but really good food. I am not sure where my pictures of the food that night went. I ordered a pasta dish and Tony got a hamburger. 

We walked around on the strip and explored some of the hotels...

It was a little annoying that you could not cross the strip wherever you wanted to. They had the street shut down, no traffic, but big gates set up in the middle and only a few spots to cross to the other side. We walked from about the Linq to the end of the street where this huge bus and lots of patrol cars were blocking the street and we crossed and walked down the opposite side. Kind of interesting. Someone said they blocked it off so that people didnt destroy the landscaping but I'm not so sure. There were quite a lot of police and military people out patrolling the streets. We were in one spot and a bunch of cops were chasing a guy who had ran beneath the building into the parking garage. Men with guns running everywhere, so fast! It was kind of funny but kind of not and we kept walking.

We were ready for the fireworks and countdown at 10 seconds to midnight. Of course we kissed and then you could turn your eyes any direction and see fireworks - all synchronized! It was pretty awesome. Once the show was over we walked back to the car because, what else was there to do?

(soo cold - Tony let me wear his coat)

All in all, it was a fun way to spend New Year's Eve. I procrastinated leaving Utah a bit but next time it would be fun to get a hotel on the strip and not have to worry about finding parking. Maybe we will find friends to split a room with next time and do that. It was nice to break up the drive from Salt Lake to Ridgecrest even though I was a bit sad to miss Tony's family fun dinner. It will be interesting to see how we end up spending next New Year's Eve. Anything is possible!

Beach Day

The beach vs. the mountains, I just can't decide which I love more. Who says I have to take sides anyway? Since there are not really any mountains where I am at in CA, I will go to the beach instead. I do miss the mountains in Utah a lot but luckily its just a 10 hour drive and when I go, it can be for longer than just a weekend, usually, so it's sort of like the best of both worlds in a way.

Anniversary Weekend: Universal Studios

Every single time I am in southern CA , I want to go to Disneyland. We did that together in 2012 so this time we decided to do something we had never done. We picked to go to Universal Studios to celebrate our 4 year wedding anniversary! It was a last minute change of plans because we were going to go to Gem Mountain in Montana but it was bad weather, so we opted for a trip to California instead. So nice because we both took Friday off of work to have an extra day for travel, etc.

A Trip To Idaho

 

My dad emailed my family on Friday letting us know he was going to get a new calling on Sunday in his ward if any of us wanted to come see it all go down. I'm always down for a roadtrip so my sister Laura, her 2 boys and I all headed out Friday afternoon to Boise.  Tony wanted to come but had too much homework and Rocky was still in Peru. So..girls trip! (minus the 2 boy-kids traveling with us).

California Christmas Eve

Where Have I Been?

Certainly not blogging, that's been obvious! Makes me so so sad. I've fallen really behind. I blame it on starting a new job and not being able to be online much during the day. Not that I really blogged during work before but once 5pm hit I could get a blog post up or if I got up before 9am I could write something and schedule it to post later in the day. Sigh. I'm not sure that there is any other explanation besides the fact that when I get off work I dont always get to go straight home & when I do get home I have piles of stuff to clean up (clothes, dishes, mail , etc) and then I get so tired because Im getting up earlier for work.  Also some nights I've been falling asleep earlier leaving less time for online stuff and just other life stuff in general! Excuses? These are mine. I am realizing I'm so bad at managing my time and I am trying to figure out how to be better.

So...here's what I have been up to (esp on the weekends) during the month of June!

The Rest of Vegas...

Saturday morning in Vegas started out with crepes made by my friend Kylee who I have not seen for about 7 years!

Homemade crepes are bomb dot com! I put Nutella , strawberries and whipped cream on mine. So so tasty!

She also made bacon and potatoes.  BEST breakfast I've had this year!

 We were going to go ice skating on the roof of the Cosmopolitan hotel on the strip but after some discussion we decided Red Rock Canyon was a better idea due to the fact the ice rink is pretty small and a radion station was there doing an event plus there was a birthday party. Kylee had the National Parks pass so we were able to get in for free to Red Rock Canyon!

After visiting Kylee I met up with one of my favorite mission companions, Lindsay! Got to meet her husband for the first time and little girl who is so freekin adorable. Had a great time catching up with her and I hope to meet up with her again next time I'm in Vegas!

That pretty much sums up my Saturday. Headed out around 530pm, got a couple trash tacos at Jack in the Box (there is not one in SLC, sad) and picked up a guy who was riding from St George to Lehi with me. I dropped him off at his sister's house.

Stopped to get gas in Beaver. Recognized this chair from a picture a guy posted on Instagram so I was excited to see we stopped at the same gas station! It was literally freezing outside, sitting on that chair felt like ice.

Picture of our church building Sunday morning. Deadly icicles. I was NOT excited to come back to the extreme cold and snow and ice. Vegas was cold but not as cold as UT is right now with it's single digit/below freezing temperatures!

Got home about 130am in the morning safe and sound. Cant wait to take another roadtrip already!